Paul Glatzel and Vítězslav Jaroš were potentially surprising inclusions in Liverpool’s confirmed Premier League squad. Here’s why the duo have been named.
The Premier League required all clubs in the division to submit their squads yesterday, with no alterations now allowed until January. For the most part, Liverpool’s confirmed roster was more or less as expected.
Some may have been confused by the omission of Ryan Gravenberch — although regular Liverpool.com readers will have been forewarned. Thankfully, this was not an oversight after the deal was only sealed on transfer deadline day; it is simply that the Dutchman still qualifies as an U21 player for one more season under Premier League rules, and therefore does not need to be registered.
That leaves Liverpool one spare slot in its non-homegrown quota, providing Jürgen Klopp with a little January transfer leeway. He can also add another two homegrown players — but that’s a lower number than expected, after the Reds named both Paul Glatzel and Vítězslav Jaroš in that category.
In terms of established senior homegrown players, Liverpool has just four on the books: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Joe Gomez and Caoimhín Kelleher. Harvey Elliott still counts as U21.
However, Glatzel and Jaroš are now over-age players. Both 22, they needed to be registered in order to be eligible to feature for Liverpool in the Premier League.
Neither are likely to see minutes. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that Liverpool did not find loans for the pair: Jaroš was at Stockport County last season, while Glatzel spent time with Tranmere Rovers.
However, given Liverpool’s rather threadbare homegrown count, there was nothing to be lost in registering Glatzel and Jaroš once it became clear they would be remaining at Anfield. They are not taking up anyone else’s spots in the squad, and they are not blocking any January additions — in the highly unlikely event that Klopp wanted to add more than two extra homegrown players in the winter market, he could unregister one or both of the academy products.
So don’t expect to see Jaroš or Glatzel in Premier League action any time soon, but that’s why they’ve made the cut on Liverpool’s confirmed squad list.
